My first trip to Philly ever, down from Providence and stayed with a friend from HS who went to Penn. I needed some beer earlier that afternoon and he said I needed to go to the corner bar. I said I wanted to get a six pack to go, not drink in a bar. He said right, that was the only place to buy a six pack. Sure enough they had a fridge ready for take out sales, how weird! In any case that show was a smoker. Later that night, flying high after the show, I’ll always remember being in a Penn bar while “Blinded Me With Science” cranked away. What a long strange trip indeed!

Pretty darned good. I think this early '83 period was one of the band's best eras. Or, "That's what I like." Something along those lines.

I'm glad to see this show is recognized as one of the greats from the Brent era. Best Shakedown I ever saw. It was during Morning Dew at this show that I had the profound realization that Jerry was the center of the universe and the rest of the band and audience were all spinning around him. I was a senior in high school.

Jerry,Brent and Phil are pulling out all the stops on this one. Great Shakedown(was there ever a bad one @ this venue?) TLEO is sweetly played and the Let It Grow is a rip roaring excursion into the outer realms of the song. Great show from the infamous spring 1983 tour and well worth the listen.5 for the performance and 4 for the sound(the drums seem weak) so I give this a 4 star.

I like the end of Let it Grow with Phil dropping triple bombs and Jerry reacting to that, then Bob - "we're gonna take a break - everybody hang on" after a Let it Grow like that I bet quite a few there were white knuckled and had to be told to let go!

Purchased my ticket from Ticketron (remember them?) 2 weeks before the show. Floor seat on the isle, lots of dancin' room and a little white snow ta boot. If you get confused just listen to the music play.

Brent turns up the funk here, and this show sizzles as a result. Shakedown is good but Help>Slip>Frank really sizzles. That Slipknot! might be one of the best I've ever heard. The show is very fun until the very end when they do the waaaay overplayed Throwing Stones>NFA with an US Blues Encore. That's probably what keeps me from giving this show 5 stars. That and the first set kinda drags starting with MMU until Roses.
1st Set = 3.5 stars
2nd set = 4.5 stars
Sound = 4 stars
show = 4 stars

but wow a must listen and im a 90s fan. the dead changed continually over the years and wow it is so exciting to see the defference. Imust say every era has a special place in my heart.Phil is huge i just cranked my sub and now have lost hearing in one ear. hahahahahahahaha

ok, my stars are out of my ^%$. i haven't heard the whole concert yet, but i was there, and one of the things i remember was the shakedown opener.

i used to go to dance clubs, and one of the things you would do, _if_ you knew how to do dance, was to vamp off of old shit. and thats whats happening on shakedown; the lyrics, garcia's solo, etc. we're talking about the place where philly soul was born, right? bowie did his live albums there!

i'll repeat this elsewhere, but don't knock brent. early 80's meltdown is totally right about brent being a mack-daddy; he's vamping off of every heavy 70's funk thing p-funk did. and yes, i've seen p-funk; the trip godfathers of their style. kine2b is right, the jam coming out of shakedown is HUGE! but in order to truly appreciate it you have to change modality. once you do, you'll see that its just play, the appliation of a spirit of play to a different style, for creative enjoyment and the pleasure of expression. yeah, its the best shake, ever.

I've only listened to Set I, which is a very enjoyable collection of tunes. Jerry smokes the guitar licks in Me & My Unlce (one of the best versions I've heard), West LA is top choice, and Brent commands Maybe You Know. Sound is excellent.

just gotta POKE around --- some of the best vocal play between Jerry, Bobby and Brent ever. My first show and this opener hooked me for another 88 more all across this country...good people and good times.

The first thing that came to mind was Brent's such a mack daddy, putting a little funkadelic George Clinton Parliment sound to it. Especially on Skake and women. Brent had this sound towards end of 79'(S.Yarsmouth) through early 80's.
Top notch Dead in my book and yea, I agree the Dead probably like playin the Spectrum. Pretty tight old school arena.

This is a killer show. If you're gonna do an 80's (I am a 70's snob!) this is a great 83' to check out. You know they loved Philly!

Good sound

...despite a small overlap and cut in Space. Very hot mix, and like an earlier reviewer stated, Phil's gonna check your subwoofer for you. The first set is no slouch, either, but there are some anomalies as noted in the text file.

Four skulls for the performance, and four for the recording.

I bumped intot this show accidentally one night will listening to local college radio station that was hosting a night of the Dead. A little pre-gaming before listening to the radio and BAM! We have left the planet. Only we didn't know we were going to leave the universe during Shakedown. This and the MWP Shakedown from '85 definatley rank tops. This just might beat it though.

my 1st and only birthday show.where might be the killer aud of this great show?i have copy of reckaton mics fob but would like to hear a senn. 421 or 441 source fob.i think 83 is a great year of interplay

Fans of Phil (and who isn't one) should really tune into this one...he shows up big on this very nice sounding board.

I've always loved the 80's and 83 especially (along with '81 and 87-89) so I am surely biased on this one...a funky and fun Shakedown starts things off and then a nice array of "newer tunes" in the middle of the first set are fun and set up a beautiful "Roses"...which has never been my fave, but is very nice here. Help>Slip>Franks is very good as well.
One note from my ears...either Jerry has a cold, or our hero is beginning to show the signs of the downhill slide toward his near demise in '86.
I love this show...

good sound quality

never heard this before and cant believe the raw power of this through everything minglewood, TLEO, let it grow, franklins, not fade - this whole show is rocking... new haven was ok and the first night of this was not that great so never had anything to go by apart from the song list which never seemed that diff. in addition there were so many smoking shows in spring '83... that said, this stands squarely on it's own and what it lacks in uniqueness it makes up for in a bat across the back of the head ass kicking energy... I liked this very much. It's shows like this that make me miss the old hyper Bobby.

the jam in between shakedown st. was awesome ..i was at this and the nite before too!!you're right these shows rocked!!

I think the Dead played the Spectrum nearly 50 times.

This is the best Philly Spectrum show ever. I went to the night before, and saw almost every Philly show from 85 thru 95. Now, does this night beat the 4/20/84 or 4/21/84 Civic Center shows? That's a tough call.

But it's the best the Dead ever brought to the Spectrum.